High latitude artificial periodic irregularity observations with the upgraded EISCAT heating facility

Abstract

We present a recently developed ionospheric modification experiment that produces artificial periodic irregularities in the ionosphere and uses them to make observations of the spatiotemporal behaviour of the irregularities. In addition, the method can be used to measure Faraday rotation and vertical velocities. We also introduce a novel experiment that allows monitoring the formation of the irregularities during heating, in addition to observing their decay after heating. The first measurements indicate, contrary to existing theory, that the amplitude of the radar echoes from the periodic irregularities grows faster than they decay. We focus on the API effects in the D- and E-region of the ionosphere.